2024-02-03 06:07:44
The palm of my hand developed a rash due to measles. /X (X, old Twitter)
‘Measles’, a level 2 statutory infectious disease that is spreading like a pandemic around the world, is also being introduced into Korea. Korea has been recognized as a measles-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO), but quarantine authorities are on edge due to the recent rapid spread of the disease. In Busan, a confirmed patient emerged for the first time in five years since 2019.
According to Busan City on the 3rd, a citizen in his 40s was diagnosed with measles on the 1st and is being hospitalized. Health authorities are making every effort to respond by tracking Mr. A’s movements and contacts and activating an emergency response system to determine whether additional confirmed cases occur. This is the first time in 5 years that a measles patient has occurred in Busan since 6 cases in 2019.
Measles is an acute febrile rash infectious disease caused by measles virus infection. Because it is highly contagious, more than 90% of people with weak immune systems will develop the disease when they come into contact with a patient. It is a virus that spreads through the air, so you can get infected just by coughing or sneezing. The ‘infectious reproduction index’, which refers to the number of people that one infected person can secondarily infect, is also very high, ranging from 12 to 18. It has a transmission power that is more than 10 times stronger than that of the coronavirus, which is around 1.
If you get measles, symptoms such as fever, body rash, and oral lesions appear. There is no proper treatment, so if confirmed, the patient must be isolated and receive symptomatic treatment. Although the risk of infection is high, it can be sufficiently prevented with MMR vaccination. Two vaccinations are usually recommended: at 12 to 15 months of age and at 4 to 6 years of age. Thanks to this, there was a pandemic in Korea in 2000-2001, but it decreased sharply following vaccination was implemented, and in 2014, the country was certified as a measles eradication country by WHO.
In 2021 and 2022, there was not a single domestic patient, but since last year, due to the global epidemic, cases from overseas have been gradually appearing. Last year alone, there were 280,000 patients worldwide, with over 42,000 confirmed cases in Europe in particular. This is a whopping 45-fold increase from 2022.
In response to this trend, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency last month sent an official letter to hospitals and clinics requesting cooperation to strengthen surveillance of suspected measles patients in consideration of the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics, increased overseas travel during the Lunar New Year holiday, and the opening of schools. Individuals were also asked to strictly follow personal hygiene rules, such as washing hands and wearing masks, when traveling abroad.
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